Green cars

I got hit by a car last night. Scary stuff huh? If you don't think so then you are inconsiderate, you doody head. I've had alot of people asking what happened so this is where I will recount the nights events in full.

First off we met for the hobo ride which despite being cold (there was snow! We are hardcore bikers!)had a good showing. We rode out to the tracks and started a fire, which is pretty hard to do when it's really windy out, and cooked some beans, drank some beers, and ate some apples. Not a bad dinner at all. The beans had a bit off ash in them, but we're hardcore biking hobos, ash doesn't matter. Being juvinile Thomas and I went and broke some bottles on the train tracks. Someone threw an old railroad tie on the fire resulting in the worse smelling smoke in the world which permeated our clothes, hair, and even worse, messenger bags! but I suppose if you are going to play hobo you better smell like a hobo. We all stood around the fire melting our shoes and talking untill eventually the cold won out and drove us away. Peeing on campfires makes some rank smoke.

Meeting up before the hobo ride. Short bike day!

After hobo time we decided to go ride around town for a while than go back to a guys house (sorry I forgot your name) and hang out and drink for a while. On the ride Anna and I split off for a minuite and ended up splitting up. I rode into town looking for the rest of the pack when I finally got ahold of Thomas and started heading towards Water St. While I was heading down First ave. near Chippewa I saw a car begining to move into my lane. Curious as to whether or not they saw me I began to slow down, by this point I was well into the intersection. Sure enought the car, with no turn signal mind you, took their left turn and took me out in the process. I ended up flying over their hood and landing on the sidewalk. where I rolled around trying to catch my breath, and yelled at the guy not to move his car. I rolled around some more and swore a bunch because I thought my leg was busted, and could see my bike was clearly trashed.

Bent rim, bent forks, bent bars, sad face

The guy called the cops and they showed up along with the EMTs and fire department. By this time I could walk and hobble into the ambulance to get checked out while the cops did their cop stuff. Everything seemed ok, and considering how much adrenaline I had going I could have a bone sticking out and wouldn't have felt it. After that ordeal I got out of the ambulance and was fortunate enough to see friends there waiting to see if I was ok. Many thanks to you guys for sticking around, it's alot less intimidating to deal with cops, and EMTs, and all that sort of stuff when you have the support of other people around you, pat yourself on the back, you know who you are. So I ended up talking to the cops and all that stuff. The consensus was that I was not at fault, and the only thing I did wrong was not have a light on the front of my bike, I always ride with my tailight at night. I ended up getting a $20 ticket for that and the guy who hit me got a $160 ticket and 4 points off for failure to yield. Fortunetly for me the guy who hit me was level headed and I got all of his insurance info. Thomas, Anna, and I walked back to my house and chilled for a litle bit, then thomas took off and I decided to check myself out now that the adrenaline coursing through my veins finally slowed to a trickle and my heart wasn't beating out of my chest. My arm looked all fucked up so Anna and I ened up driving to the hospital to get it checked out.

6 x-rays and an hour and a half later they concluded that I simply sprained my shoulder. My arm hurts like hell and I alwsy thought sprains were wimpy things, but according to dictionary.com it is "a sudden or violent twist or wrench of a joint causing the stretching or tearing of ligaments and often rupture of blood vessels with hemorrhage into the tissues" I guess thats pretty tough. I got some painkillers and went home to go to bed.

There is something I want to get off my chest though. It's amazing to me how much animosity you get as a biker. I've grown used to it, but in situations like this it really bugs me. I am an experienced biekr who wasn't doing a single thing illegal when that car hit me. Yet I tell people what happened the automatically assume that I must have been at fault some how. Somehow simply riding a bike makes you less of a person and instantly at fault for any accident that happens. So to all you cynics, no this wan't my fault. if you don't believe me call the cops and get a copy of the accident report.

And everyone remember that no matter how good of a biker you think you are it just takes one car not paying attention, or not caring, and you are on the ground broken or dead. You can be covered in reflective tape, and lights, but if a driver isn't paying attention it doesnt matter. That said, ride safe.

Well, overall I had a decent night. thanks for everyone coming out to ride and thanks to my friends who have called and stuff to make sure I'm ok. Sorry the night had to end early, Im kind of bummed we couldn't have rode around longer. Next time I will try my hardest not to get hit.

O yea, I rode bike to school today. The pedal power dont stop.